The Governor’s House in Kolkata is “concerned” over the way the Marxists have criticised his demand for a public apology from the CPI(M) Politburo after SFI supporters heckled Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Finance Minister Amit Mitra at the Planning Commission in Delhi on April 9.
A second communiqué from the Governor’s House on Thursday has justified his call for a public apology saying he was well versed in Marxist philosophy and fully conversant with the way the communist parties worked, underscoring thereby the propriety of his remark.
Governor MK Narayanan on Wednesday had severely criticised the Planning Commission incident saying “the shocking premeditated assault on the Chief Minister, the Finance Minister and senior ministers of West Bengal in the national capital is an extremely unfortunate incident and is a blot on India’s cherished democratic values.”
Condemning the “unprecedented incident in India’s modern history” he demanded a “public apology by the politburo of the CPI-Marxist.”
The second statement came after lF chairman and CPI(M) politburo member Biman Bose earlier questioned Narayanan’s knowledge of communist ways in view of his demanding an apology from the Politburo. The communiqué said that he had studied communism, Marx Angels and Mao for the past six decades apart from delivering many speeches on the subject both in national and international forums. Besides he was aware of the element of democratic centralism on which the Marxist philosophy stood.
The Governor in the statement said, “I had extensively spoken at the national and international conferences on the subject of communism. I am therefore well aware of the role and functions of the Politburo and the central committee of the CPI(M).” It further said that as one of the basic axioms of communist ideology was the principle of democratic centralism he had made the suggestion seeking an apology by the Politburo.
Bose had earlier remarked that “the Governor may be a veteran IPS officer with deep knowledge of police administration and how it works but he may not have very good knowledge of what is a politburo or a central committee and how the communist party functions, so we ignore what he said.”
The Thursday’s statement from the Governor’s House emanated almost in tandem with his visit to a South Kolkata nursing, after home to see the ailing Chief Minister, who got herself admitted to the hospital soon after she returned from Delhi on Wednesday.
At the hospital doctors said Banerjee had been kept under observation as she complained of breathlessness. The Chief Minister underwent X-Rays and CT Scans. “Some more blood tests would be done on Friday and she would be kept under observation for another 48 hours,” a senior doctor attending on her said.
Dwelling on the ransacking of the Presidency University by alleged Trinamool Congress supporters the Governor told reporters that those who vandalized the elite college “should be treated like criminals.”
Meanwhile, even as the police on Wednesday arrested two accused for the Wednesday’s attack on the Presidency University camera footage in the television channels showed that the attacks was led by one of Trinamool Congress councilors Partho Guha, husband of Deputy Speaker Sonali Guha.
Elsewhere political clashes continued in the State with supporters of the rival parties attacking each other in the districts. At Bankura State Opposition leader Suryakanto Mishra’s car was blockaded by the angry Trinamool supporters protesting the Wednesday’s incident.